Rudiger von der Goltz

Rudiger von der Goltz (8 December 1865-4 November 1946) was a Major-General in the Imperial German Army who fought in World War I, the Finnish Civil War, the Latvian War of Independence, and the Estonian War of Independence.

Biography
Rudiger von der Goltz was born in Zulichau, Brandenburg, Prussia, German Empire in 1865, and he entered the Imperial German Army in 1885. He rose to officer rank during World War I, rising to the rank of Major-General during his service in France. In March 1918, he was transferred to Finland to help the nationalist White Finland government, and his expeditionary force conquered Helsinki from the socialist Finnish Red Guards. He became a commander of the Baltic Landeswehr during the Latvian War of Independence and the Estonian War of Independence, fighting against the Soviet forces alongside the Latvian and Estonian independence forces. In March 1919, he scored a series of victories over the Red Army in Latvia, and, in June 1919, he ordered for his forces to march north into Estonia, fighting against the Estonians before concluding an armistice with them. When the Entente insisted that the Germans withdraw from the Baltics, Von der Goltz turned over his soldiers to the West Russian Volunteer Army, and he returned home. Von der Goltz died in Bernbeuren, Upper Bavaria, Germany in 1946.